The Politics of Envy

On the January 11th edition of "The Today Show" Matt Lauer asked Presidential candidate Mitt Romney a pretty simple question that shows just how out-of-touch a man like Romney is -

MATT LAUER: "When you said that we already have a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy, I'm curious about the word "envy". Did you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country, is envious? Is it about jealousy, or fairness?"

MITT ROMNNEY: "You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it's about class warfare."
 http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-12/politics/30618859_1_mitt-romney-envy-matt-lauer#ixzz1jMLrRPtS

You've got it dead wrong, Mitt. It is not about envy, it is about DISDAIN. I am not envious of the fact that you have a net worth of between $190 - $250 Million, but it does bother me how you accumulated that wealth, and it does frustrate me how little taxes you paid on those earnings.

Mitt Romney was the CEO of Bain Capital from 1984 - 1990, and a couple of years here and there after that stint, and that is where Romney made most of his millions. Bain Capital is a private equity firm, which means that they make their money buying or investing in companies and extracting maximum short-term profit by cutting costs (layoffs, benefit/pension cuts) then selling them before they either collapse or are fixed by the next investor or owner.

This form of unabridged capitalism usually ends up with a side effect of job losses, not job gains. If there are any job gains that coincide with actions by groups like Bain Capital, they are incidental, and are not at all a priority of the businessmen who run the firms.

As every good pro-capitalism conservative knows, business is about making money, not creating jobs. Especially big business. Mitt Romney, and every other CEO in America is responsible to their Board of Directors and their stock holders, not their employees. And the fact that these people often pay a lower percentage in their taxes (capital gains) than the people who actually do the work in the company is what is pissing off the majority of the public.

I have no idea why someone who makes $5 million off of "investing" in a company which lays off 1,000 employees should pay half the tax rate than the lucky employees who are left standing.

That emotion is not "envy" it is "disdain". Even people like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin get that (either that or they are faking their empathy).

The times have changed when the majority of the Republican candidates for President are pointing fingers at the "Big, Pro-Business" man in the room with contempt for his aggressive and unbridled capitalism.

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Except for here in Wisconsin -

Local "leaders" like Scott Walker and Paul Ryan are following suit with Romney calling anyone who questions the questionable practices of big business and Wall Street "envious" of the wealthy. They claim that the people who back the Occupy Wall Street movement and believe in the "We are the 99%" are practicing the "politics of envy" and promoting "class warfare".

Representative Ryan said this back in November, "Class warfare will simply divide this country more. It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn't grow the economy...Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics."

Now I am no fan of Paul Ryan, but I have to agree with him here. The statement is logical. And in fact, the job situation in Wisconsin is proof that he is correct.

Replace the word "country" with the word "state" and you have hit the nail on the head with the economic reality that Wisconsin finds itself in right now. We have lost more than 35,000 jobs since Scott Walker's budget has kicked in and his own version of "class warfare" and "envy" have taken hold in our state.

Governor Walker has pitted cops against teachers, private construction workers against public road crews, private landscape contractors against county park workers, private and voucher schools against public schools, neighbor against neighbor and even family member against family member.

Walker has created an environment where middle class Wisconsinites earning $40,000 with a crappy benefit package are taking their "envy" out on teachers and firefighters and 911 operators and social workers. Having listened to Behling and Sykes on 620WTMJ, I can't say that I blame the private sector - according to the right-wing megaphones in WI it is the fault of the teachers that the benefits of the private sector suck, not the fault of the CEO's who put profit over people.

Here in Wisconsin, Walker has created his own version of "class warfare", but this version pits middle-class public sector worker against middle-class private sector worker. What we need to understand is that we are all in the same boat. We sink or sail together. Every progressive I know believes that all employees (private and public) should have good, comprehensive, affordable health care and retirement packages - and have the right to belong to or form a union to encourage such benefits.

The 1% are not in the same lifeboat that we find ourselves in - they are in some yacht, miles away from the sinking Titanic and they have taken all the life-preservers with them and left the poor, the women and the children on board with the rest of the steerage.

What most liberals and progressives such as myself have disdain for is the greed of the corporate rich who insist on being called "job creators" but are nothing more than leeches who suck the life out of the working class people in this country by denying them decent benefits and the ability to collectively bargain.

What "trickle-down economics" really means is that 99% of us are forced to fight amongst ourselves for the scraps that have trickled down after the very top have taken all that they can hoard. This is not "envy", this is "disdain". ~ And if people like Mitt Romney cannot understand the difference, how the hell do they expect to lead a country overflowing with sinking middle-class Americans?